Weekend Box Office: Jungle Book Tramples The Huntsman

By Chris Kavan - 04/24/16 at 08:06 PM CT

The writing was on the wall long before the film opened, but the weekend probably has put a nail in the coffin of any new, gritty Snow White films. The Huntsman: Winter's War was a major disappointment, meanwhile, Disney continues to bask in the glory of both The Jungle Book and Zootopia, which crossed a major milestone worldwide. Disney has a lot to look forward to and, if anything, will actually only hurt themselves in the future as Captain America: Civil War rolls out in several international markets next week before it U.S. debut in May.

1) THE JUNGLE BOOK

After its amazing debut, The Jungle Book continued its excellent run. In its second week, it dropped just 41.1% - that is among the top 15 second weekends among all films and the 4th best for any film opening above $100 million. It did better than both Alice in Wonderland and Toy Story 3 (both which dipped 46%) and just behind the likes of Spider-Man and Star Wars: The Force Awakens (both which dropped 39%). That leaves the film with $191.4 million. With the international numbers taken into account, Jungle Book stands at $528 - the fifth best total for any film in 2016. The only thing that may slow down those numbers is the international rollout of Captain America: Civil War - but we'll see just how big of an impact that has. Otherwise, even with Ratchet and Clank next weekend, Jungle Book should continue to play well and stay on top of the box office.

2 THE HUNTSMAN: WINTER'S WAR

It tuns out Chris Hemsworth may not have as much spark as Kristen Stewart - even with Jessica Chastain and Emily Blunt to back him up. The Huntsman: Winter's War opened to just $20.1 million - just 36% of the total opening of the original film's $56.2 million opening. Granted, its budget is also 65% lower at just $115 million, but even so, Winter's War is going to struggle to even hit half that mark at least on the domestic front. This prequel played out more like a standard generic fantasy/action film rather than as a must-see franchise picture. Plus, it's still dealing with the red-hot Jungle Book and the still-hot Zootopia, both of which have dominated the family crowd. The film played 61% female and 47% over 30. The film has already earned over $100 million with international numbers taken into account, so at least it will make back its budget worldwide, but I have to think Universal must be disappointed in the results and I doubt we're going to get t third film in the series.

3) BARBERSHOP: THE NEXT CUT

Ice Cube and friends managed a pretty good second-week hold, dropping 46.5% - a bit more than the 40% second-week drop of Barbershop 2, but not bad overall. The film has brought in $36 million on a reported $20 million production budget and thus there is a good chance that we may yet see another Barbershop on the way in the future. However, given its limited international appeal, it may also be a series that could very well be shunned for something with more worldwide viability - and that may also be the future for a lot of films coming out of Hollywood. Still, it's good to see the sequel play as well as it has given the large time space since the last film came out, and that's about the best it could have hoped for when it comes down to it.

4) ZOOTOPIA

The animated wonder actually rose a spot from last weekend, going from 5th to 4th place and having another spectacular hold, dropping a mere 18.8% (the best hold out of any film in the top 12) and continuing its thrilling run. After an impressive 8 weeks in the top 5, Zootopia added another $6.6 million for a new total of $316.4 million. It's only a matter of time before this film catches up to and ultimately passes Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice ($319.5 million). The big news for Zootopia, however, is how well it's doing worldwide. It has topped the $900 million mark and currently sits at $907.1 million. That puts it at the second-highest total for any non-reissued Disney animated film - ahead of The Lion King and behind Frozen. It's also currently the eighth-best animated film ever - and should soon pass the $919 million total for Shrek 2 shortly. In any case, Zootopia is going to wind up as one of the biggest films of the year - we'll see if it can ultimately top $1 billion but even if it falls short, this is another huge success for Disney in a year that has really just begun.

5) THE BOSS

Rounding out the top 5, the Melissa McCarthy film The Boss dropped two spots and lost about 39% of its audience in the process as it earned $6.1 million in its third week out. The film sits at just under $50 million with a $49.5 million total. It actually had a better third-week hold than many previous McCarthy films, but it is still looking like it will top out at around the $60 million mark - a bit low, but considering its $29 million budget this is still going to an overall winner in the long run.


Outside the top five: Out of the limited release films, the Spanish-language film Compadres had the best opening, managing to place in the top 10 with a 9th-place $1.35 million opening and a pretty good $3,668 per-theater average. Coming in just outside of the top 10 (it may be able to break through once final numbers are announced) was the Tom Hanks film A Hologram for the King which hit $1.2 million and a $3,010 per-theater average. While this represents one of the lowest opening for Hanks, it is also well below the theater count of most of his other films.

The best per theater average of the week (aside from The Jungle Book) belonged to the horror film Green Room, in which Patrick Stewart gets to play a neo-Nazi villain. The film added 27 theaters and jumped from 30th to 23rd place with $215,000 (and the aforementioned superb $7,167 per-theater average). This is one I want to check out, if only to see how Stewart pulls of the bad-guy role.

Next week sees the release of the animated Ratchet and Clank, the kitten comedy Keanu (also featuring comedians Key and Peele) and the Garry Marshall female-driven comedy Mother's Day.

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